4.  The applicant was born in 1959 and lives in Irpin.
5.  On 23 March 2005 the applicant sent to the State Tax Administration a letter in which she complained that the management of the Academy of the State Tax Service, which was under the authority of the State Tax Administration and at which her son had studied before being expelled in 2004, were engaging in unlawful and corrupt activities.
6.  The relevant parts of the letter read as follows:
“I address you concerning the real situation at the Academy ... [This letter] will concern the flagrantly unfair attitude towards students of the Law Faculty, headed by [S.], to students' parents, with the complete ... support ... of the President of the Academy [M.]...
The reason for [addressing you] is a television report, broadcasted on 22 March 2005, concerning the student protest organised by [M.] against [his] dismissal from the post of President of the Academy. I really hope that my letter can influence the course of events.
My son, Mr Yaroslav Siryk, [who] had successfully and independently entered the Law Faculty of [the Academy], was expelled from it ... I could not even imagine that the methods described below were applied in a State educational institution ...
... My son missed the beginning of studies because of a severe infectious disease ... Subsequently, I was called [to the Law Faculty] and during a private conversation [S.] told me that [students] like my son could not study at her faculty under the normal conditions, and that if I did not want to have problems with [graduation] I had to agree to additional financial conditions, in particular, to pay her 200 [United States dollars] for every exam, and 50 [United States dollars] for every test ... After my unconditional refusal, my road of sorrows began ...
Two or three times a week I was called to the office of the Dean [of the Law Faculty] for numerous [discussions of problems], one of the first of which concerned the checking of [my son's] medical documents ... the [professors] shouted at me, called me a swindler and so on ...
Because he had been on sick leave ... and because of the enduring tense discussions with the Dean and the Deputy Dean ... my son did not have normal conditions in which to study... When I tried to enter the office of the Dean in order to discuss that matter, she ... simply ... pushed me out of the office ...
And I wrote a detailed complaint to the President [of the Academy] ... (a copy is enclosed) ... [T]he President ordered that my son be allowed additional time to take the winter exams... [H]owever, afterwards arbitrariness on a larger scale began: professors were simply receiving from [S.] and [the Deputy Dean B.] ... categorical instructions not to allow my son to take exams... Those instructions were rigorously complied with, as the staff of the Academy was hired on the basis of personal loyalty towards the management or dependency on the management [of the Academy]: numerous relatives ... close friends ... former students [of the Academy] ... about whose knowledge, competence and work experience it is not possible to speak. It is difficult for them to find another job, therefore they are ready to fulfil any assignments, obey any wishes of the management ...
... [S.] and [B.] became so impudent that together they conducted negotiations with me concerning extra-contractual payments [for my son's studies] at the office of [S.]. In a normal civilised country [people] would have already compared the earnings of the State servants and their standard of living. What [amount of] salary enables the Dean of the faculty [S.] to wear different exclusive imported clothes and diamonds every day?!
... This was the rudeness, extortion and derision which I endured during the educational year at the State institution, having paid a substantial amount of money [for the education]. The most alarming thing in this story is that our case is not the only one ...
At the same time [as this was happening to us] ... more than twenty persons were simply kicked out of the Academy in the same way ... the teachers received from the Dean or the Deputy Dean categorical instructions not to allow a particular student to take an exam ...
The whole process of the intentional expulsion of certain [students] and the admission of others on a contractual basis is ... a system of extorting of money from the parents devised by the management of the faculty and the Academy ...
All the actions of [S.], approved by [M.], demonstrate [their] legal incompetence and ruthless abuse of power, though the old [State] regime generously appraised her 'achievements'; during its last days [the old regime] awarded [S.] the title of Distinguished Lawyer, and the President of the Academy promoted her to First Vice‑President [of the Academy]
I hoped the new authorities would sort everything out, but [people like S. and M.] feel perfectly at home under any regime.
In addition to the violations described [above], I ask you to look at the following: 1.  On what does [the Academy] spend the budgetary funds and the money from [students'] parents?
-  why does the President of ... [the Academy, in whose possession] there is an expensive 'Mercedes', additionally buy an 'Audi A-8' for [the price of] 800,000 [Ukrainian] hryvnias?!
-  what is the source of the money and what is the need for the business trips on which [M.] and [S.] constantly go?
-  what are the earnings [allowing] the State servant [S.] to wear different expensive ... clothes and diamonds every day?
-  how did [S.] manage to gain her doctor's degree so soon [after] having completed her higher education at the Academy ...
-  what benefits does [the Academy] receive from the companies of [M's] brother and sister?
-  on what grounds did the staff of the Academy obtain double salary payments at the end of 2004 ...
As regards the activities of those persons during the [Presidential] election [of 2004] ... [M.] and [S.] ... did not let students take part in meetings in support of Yushchenko ... Students were forced ... to vote in the Academy under the supervision of the professors ... According to the parents of students [wishing to enter the Academy], during the [2004] summer admission campaign [M.] ... openly stated that he was collecting money for the [Presidential] election [of 2004] ...
The only thing which I wish to try to achieve [is] that my letter helps to restore justice in our small Irpin region ...”
7.  In April 2005 Ms S., who was at the time the First Vice-President of the Academy, instituted defamation proceedings against the applicant in the Kyyevo-Svyatoshynskyi District Court of the Kyiv Region.
8.  Ms S. alleged that by a letter of 23 March 2005 the applicant had disseminated untrue and defamatory statements about her, and asked the court to order the retraction of the statements. Ms S. also claimed compensation for non-pecuniary damage.
9.  The applicant, in her turn, contended that the information contained in the impugned letter was based on facts, some of which could be confirmed by witnesses. She also argued that her statements were, for the most part, value judgments, for which she should not be held responsible pursuant to section 47 of the Information Act. The applicant, relying on the decisions of courts in similar, according to her, defamation cases, also submitted that by her letter of 23 March 2005 she had simply informed the higher authorities about irregularities at the Academy and had not disseminated the statements about Ms S. within the meaning of Article 277 of the Civil Code of 2003.
10.  By a letter of 29 April 2005 the applicant requested the President of the Supreme Court to transfer the case to a district court in Kyiv, stating that Ms S's husband worked as a judge in the Irpin Town Court of the Kyiv Region and could influence the outcome of the proceedings before the Kyyevo-Svyatoshynskyi District Court. By a letter of 3 June 2005 the Deputy President of the Supreme Court informed the applicant that her request had been rejected as unfounded.
11.  On 25 June 2005 the Kyyevo-Svyatoshynskyi District Court, relying on Articles 277 and 280 of the Civil Code of 2003, ruled in part in favour of Ms S. It found that the applicant had failed to prove her statements that the latter had treated the students and their parents unfairly; that she had demanded from the applicant a payment for every exam and test which the applicant's son had had to sit; that she had been rude or shouted at the applicant; that she had called the applicant a swindler; that she had pushed the applicant out of the office; that she had given instructions to the professors not to allow the applicant's son to take exams; that she had not allowed students to attend the meetings in support of V. A. Yushchenko during the Presidential election; that the actions of Ms S. had demonstrated that she was legally incompetent; and that she had exceeded her powers.
12.  The court further held that the above statements had been publicly disseminated, as the letter had been addressed to a legal entity and the applicant could have foreseen that it would be read by more than one person. It also noted that Ms S. had acquainted herself with the text of the letter in the presence of the President of the Academy and representatives of the State Tax Administration.
13.  The court declared the above statements to be untrue and defamatory and ordered the applicant to retract them by rescinding the impugned letter. The court also ordered her to pay Ms S. 1,000 Ukrai[1]nian hryvnias (UAH) in compensation for non-pecuniary damage.
14.  On 14 October 2005 the Kyiv Regional Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the first-instance court in full.
15.  On 25 July 2006 the Supreme Court dismissed the applicant's request for leave to appeal in cassation as unsubstantiated.